THE OXFORD ALABAMA INDIAN MOUND ONCE MORE ENDANGERED

Last July, Terry Thornton alerted us to a post at the Deep-Fried Kudzu blog about the
partial destruction of a 1500 year old Indian mound in the town of Oxford, Alabama. It
was being destroyed so that the dirt could be used for the foundation of a new Sam’s
Club store. Despite protests raised over the loss of a site that could have significance
to Native Americans, the mayor of Oxford remained adamant on continuing with the
project. Quite a bit of damage was done to the mound and only an offer from a local
farmer to provide dirt saved what was left.

Now comes word that the mayor is planning to level off the top of the hill to build a
new restaurant or hotel.

When I read this article yesterday I immediately thought about Emitt Smith’s segment
of “Who Do You Think You Are?” where he looks over the fence at the cemetery where
his slave ancestors are buried in unmarked graves in the woods. What if that area had
been cleared for a building or paved over for a parking lot?

Please spread the word about this disregard of Indian cultural history .If you
are a geneablogger, alert your readers with a post or with a link here to this article.
If you belong to a historical or genealogy society, tell your fellow members and urge them
to email or snailmail the Oxford, Alabama officials to protest the mayor’s plans.

The address is:
145 Hamric Drive East, PO Box 3383, Oxford AL 36203

The email address is
cityhall@oxfordalabama.org

You can read the article about the new plan in this weekends edition of the N.Y. Times.

Let’s use the surge of interest in genealogy to save this site and others like it
that are important to all our heritages.